Fire Destroys Recording Studio, But Deep Purple Avoid Another ‘Smoke on the Water’

The German recording studio where an upcoming live release was mixed for Deep Purple has been destroyed in a fire.

The venue, Hammer Studios, was owned by legendary power metal outfit Gamma Ray. Fortunately, anyone who might have been in the building when disaster struck seems to have been evacuated without incident, although reports suggest at least one person was hospitalized after suffering from smoke inhalation. It sounds as though the undisclosed Deep Purple project had already been completed before the fire, and the members of Gamma Ray were out of the country on tour, where they’ve used their Facebook page to let fans know everyone’s okay.

“Hi everybody, thanks for your concern, we are ok, already on Tour in South America,” reads the message left by guitarist Kai Hansen. “The Studio is probably gone, we’ll know more whenever the Firemen have everything under control. Here’s the ironic part: we’re at the Waterfront of a lake and the upcoming Deep Purple Live recordings have just been mixed at our place. Remember ‘Smoke on the Water’…”

As any Deep Purple fan probably already knows, Hansen was alluding to the band’s last brush with a studio fire, which took place when a fan at a Frank Zappa concert fired a flare into the ceiling, starting a fire that burned down the Montreux casino complex where the members of Deep Purple had just started sessions for their 1972 album ‘Machine Head.’ Although the blaze resulted in catastrophic property damage, the experience inspired the lyrics for the ‘Machine Head’ track ‘Smoke on the Water,’ which ended up becoming the band’s signature hit.

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